Qualifying will be followed by coverage of Nationwide Series practice that will begin at approximately 8:30PM and run until 10PM.

This weekend is a bit different, so here is brief rundown of the Friday TV shows and the times of the Nationwide action.

Friday, Trackside starts the night at 4PM Eastern Time. Hosted by Steve Byrnes, this show features Waltrip, McReynolds and Jeff Hammond on the panel. This week the show will welcome Kurt Busch and Elliott Sadler.

SPEED continues with Nationwide Series qualifying at 5PM, followed by Sprint Cup practice at approximately 6:30PM. A flexible edition of NASCAR Live with John Roberts will take the network to the final Sprint Cup practice at 8PM.

ESPN2 is next on-the-air with a 15 minute version of NASCAR Countdown at 9:30PM and then the Nationwide Series race at 9:45PM Eastern Time. Please note that live NBA basketball precedes NASCAR Countdown, so if the game runs long NASCAR will begin to collapse down to the start time of the race itself.

This page will host your comments about the Thursday action on SPEED. To add your comment, just click on the COMMENTS button below and follow the instructions. The rules for posting are on the right side of the main page. Thanks for stopping by.

33 comments:

Well this weekend couldn't have started much worse from a TV perspective.

1:15 - Nationwide practice3:15 - Sprint Cup practice

And of course the "wonderful" people at Speed Channel decided it was more important to air the Texas Cup race re-air, 2 episodes of 'Truck U', Chop Cut Rebuild, On the Edge, and Monster Jam instead during these timeslots.

Thanks for nothing Speed!!!!!!!

And to add to that, if Wisconsin Steve is right and Marty Reid is going to be in the booth for the NASCAR Nationwide race on Friday night instead of Allen Bestwick I might just find something else better to do at 10:00 or whenever the 7:00 NBA game on ESPN2 decides to end.

So Speed obviously hasn't learned from their recent NASCAR pre-emptions at Martinsville and Texas and ESPN damn sure hasn't learned from the Nashville debacle and are going to be force feeding us an IRL announcer at a NASCAR race yet again.

Let's just hope Allen Bestwick picks up the slack and carries the broadcast from the pit studio again like he did a few weeks back, and maybe just maybe one of the suits at ESPN will take notice, swallow their pride, admit they made a mistake, and put Allen in the booth when Dr. Punch is not available... or maybe better yet even when Dr. Punch is available.

There is just no way I can articulate it any better than Strklnfan. I agree w/those comments. I went to SPEED CHAN and found what he did. Since I work nights, guess I will catch the middle of qual at 2000hrs when I get up

Hey. I just read on the internet that ESPN Pit Reporter Shannon Spake is getting married this weekend after the Phoenix Nationwide Race. I guess the wedding is taking place in Ireland. Congradulations to her!

stricklinfan82, Are you saying SPEED should not have air the race re-air??? so many people use that to have a solid time to record the race. that time is supposed to NEVER move. so folks that missed the race can catch it.

stricklinfan82, You still don't understand. AB's job is in the pit studio. THAT IS IT. nothing else. moving him to different positions each week is not for the best. I don't mind Marty Reid. why do you seem to hate him??

Congratulations to Shannon. The Jayski page says Vince Welch is a pit reporter for the NW race tomorrow night and Shannon wasn't listed, so she must be off this weekend. I hope Vince does a better job than last time in Nashville, he was too abrupt and semi-rude with his questioning for me.

To answer your question yes I will ALWAYS favor live NASCAR programming in favor of re-aired NASCAR programming or other taped programming like 'Truck U'. If the Cup race re-air is considered a priority then in an instance like this where NASCAR is on a Thursday-Friday-Saturday schedule instead of a usual Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule I'd like to see the programming adjusted on Thursday to get both the Texas re-air AND the LIVE Nascar practices on TV.

anon @ 2:31,

Marty Reid is a nice guy and does an okay job but he is an Indycar announcer. He does not, presumably, attend any NASCAR race weekends other than the few he works. And who knows how many NASCAR races he can catch on TV while he's doing his "day job" of working the IRL broadcasts. He is not around this sport every week and as was evidenced at Nashvile he struggles mightily to keep up with who is driving what car. It was painful to listen to him explain to viewers at times "I'm trying to see a car number so I can tell you who that is that just had a problem, just a moment folks." Someone that is around this sport every week could have instantly called out the driver involved by just recognizing the paint scheme. By the way do you also remember him calling the race winner "David Wimmer" late in the race?

When you have a guy like Allen Bestwick, who is there every week following NASCAR and NASCAR only year-round, sitting in the pit studio it is very frustrating to me to see ESPN fill Dr. Punch's void with the IRL guy that can't keep up with the action because he doesn't, nor should he, follow NASCAR every week. Did you watch the Nashville race and notice Allen Bestwick suddenly taking over and talking more and more to set the stage for the finish of race when Reid couldn't?

And if you're going to use the reasoning that Allen is "only a pit studio worker"... do you remember who stepped in for Dale Jarrett in the booth when he took a week off at Nashville? PIT STUDIO ANAYLST Rusty Wallace.

My bottom line opinion is that Allen Bestwick should be the fill-in for Dr. Punch every time he's not available. Not an IRL announcer, not a drag racing announcer, not a football announcer, I want the #2 ESPN NASCAR announcer to be the "backup".

And yes I hear you saying "Well he works in the pit studio so that's not possible." My answer is simply:

DUH. I know his current role. I want it expanded to be more flexible and allow him to abandon the "studio host" role when needed. That argument would be the same as making the argument last year that "It's not an option to replace Rusty Wallace in the broadcast booth and move him to the pit studio, because his job is to work in the broadcast booth."

Guess what? Things change and on-air roles can be flexible. That's what the viewers at home that critique the coverage are there for. To make suggestions on what would make the broadcasts better and to encourage personnel changes as needed.

As we mentioned earlier when Marty did a race, Allen Bestwick is permanently assigned to host the Infield Pit Center and do the Monday NASCAR Now roundtable.

Since ESPN will not use a Fox or SPEED play-by-play NASCAR announcer on their air, the options for this position are limited.

Many of us who heard Bob Jenkins voice-over the IRL support series races last season thought that maybe the network would use Bob to help out in the booth and handle the occassional stand-alone Nationwide race.

It should be interesting to see how that announcer shuffle pans out for ESPN as the NASCAR workload is going to continue to grow.

Vince Welch is going to be subbing for Shannon Spake this weekend and he needs to step-up his performance from his earlier NASCAR appearance.

Yes! It looks like Speed Channel is using the TiVo style format. Let's hope this lasts all day long and we can see the entire qualifying run of EVERY car. Boy it would be a welcome sight to see an entire John Andretti qualifying run for the first time all year.

And JD, yes I hear you about Allen Bestwick "not being an option" for the play-by-play position. If that's truly the case and he can't have the Rusty Wallace flexibility of being able to move from the pit studio to the booth when needed, then you can consider this an early push for ESPN to change this at the earliest possible moment their contracts will allow - whether that be next week, next month, this off-season, next off-season, at the end of the current ESPN TV contract, whenever.

Just like Brent Musburger and Erik Kuselias, even though our constant complaints did not create immediate change last year due to contractual obligations, our continued comments finally enduced change in the off-season. So I'm hoping my comments on the Bestwick/Reid issue will eventually create a change, however long it may take to be "contractually legal" for ESPN to make such a change.

Did Mike Joy just say Travis Kvapil is carrying Ford logos on the hood and quarterpanels of his Yates Racing CHEVROLET?

I know that was an honest mistake and Mike Joy certainly didn't mean what he said, but that's kind of ironic that a slip of the tongue like that would happen on the one car that is sponsored by its manufacturer, LOL.

You will be happy to know that Mr. Musburger will once again be hosting the Indy 500 on ABC Sports.

I have it on good authority that the "podium" will once again be seen on national TV.

As to whether Musburger will wear his sneakers, that is still undecided.

By the way, Jamie Little has also officially been added to the Indy 500 broadcast team.

JD

JD,

Well thankfully I don't watch open-wheel racing so that decision doesn't affect me. I'm sure the IRL fans will be as thrilled with his performance as we were his NASCAR performances last year. If he couldn't handle pronouncing "Bowyer" last year I'd hate to see him trying to deal with some of those open-wheel names. Then again since he doesn't have college football to worry about at this time of year maybe he'll actually take this gig seriously and actually do some preparation for this assignment, unlike last year where he presumably just hopped on a plane every Saturday night and showed up on Sunday making as many football analogies as he could in his limited speaking roles and when he was in trouble just started his statements with "Well I don't know much about NASCAR, but...."

As long as Brent doesn't show up at Indy once July rolls around or at any other NASCAR weekend after that I'll be happy.

He is really gone from the NASCAR telecasts this year..... right? I thought you said that in January or so and I certainly hope I didn't 'misremember'.

I thought the IRL was RID of Jamie Little...sigh..and Musburger...but honestly, their entire team is not all that swell and ESPN/ABC has HUGE AMBIENT noise during race issues...we are more concerned about THAT than who is at the 500.

But once that day gets here, I am sure I might have a different opine. But for now, FIX the sound but SPEED seems to have problems this year as well..and ALL CHANNELS suffer from LOUD AMBIENT and or MUSIC NOISE when showing and talking OVER a video.

To the folks in production watch their work with the sound OFF?

:-0

I am half listening to the quals as I am putting low lights in my hair.

Not to be confused with LOW LIFE seen on some channel.

Good to see Dario do better in quals but wonder if he will stay in NASCAR full season?

RATS! I wonder why there is a break in the schedule and went to NASCAR.com and found out who was on the pole..darn it..I thought this was live...my digi guide says it is but I guess they are doing tivo like strick said...anyway, I HATE they are on a two week break AGAIN..why???

So TWIN can talk about a race TWO WEEKS AWAY again when Kenny is on...CRIPES...so much for taking a peek at that show.

Well thankfully I learned from last year and turned away from this website once it got late into this TiVo style qualifying broadcast. As asual an anonymous IDIOT decided to come on here on a TV blog and spoil the outcome of an event they damn well knew TV hadn't shown yet.

No comment related to the TV coverage whatsoever, just a simple "hehe, hey guys commenting on the TV broadcast, here's what you're about to see!"

What's that line you use so often JD? Something about it taking all kinds to make this world?

Strick I agree I already knew but didn't want to give it away for those who were just watching on TV and then someone had to go and be an a...... But wow we got to see every car and they even ran over to make it happen

I'm not where I can watch TV & can't pick up MRN qualifying, but FOX Trac is showing Kyle Petty outqualified Bill Elliott by almost 1 tenth to get the 43rd spot.

I agree that Allen B calling the race would be best, but he can't do everything - especially once ESPN takes over Cup races. So it makes sense to me to have Marty R fill in so he can get up to speed to be available to spell Jerry Punch.

Great qualifying broadcast. It was a very welcomed sight to see the TiVo style format brought back so we could see every qualifying run.

Thank you very much Speed Channel. I'd still like to see an adjustment to the lap tracker that would designate who the other go-or-go-homers are on that tracker but other than that great broadcast.

It's certainly a shame to see Kyle Petty miss another race, especially because of the BS past champion's provisional rule. Last year at about this time I seem to recall Michael Waltrip leaving Tradin' Paint in the midst of a DNQ streak to focus more on his team ownership and driving duties. It seems like deja-vu all over again so I wonder if we'll see a similar change from Mr. Petty if this keeps up much longer.

Also, as a heads-up to you stick-and-ball production truck guys let me explain something to you looking ahead to the Talladega qualifying session in a few weeks:

If the impound rule is still in effect it is absolutely imperative to show the entire qualifying runs of all of the go-or-go homers. Not only because of the go-or-go-home drama, but because EVERY go-or-go-homer not named Bill Elliott will end up right at the top of the qualifying speed charts, just like last year at Talladega and Daytona in July. The pole sitter will come from that go-or-go-home group and the rest of the top 7 qualifiers will also come from that group.

I know, you're going to look a the practice charts on Friday and say to yourself "Wow, the top 35 practice speeds are all the guys that are in the top 35 in points, so it's okay to skip the go-or-go-homers in qualifying." No guys that's not how it works. The top 35 guys will have faster speed in practice because they are drafting. The go-or-go homers will be at the bottom of the speed charts but THEY WILL END UP QUALIFYING 1st-7th. Trust me.

I hate that I have to explain this but after last fall's tape-delayed Talladega qualifying debacle where most of the go-or-go-homers were skipped in the tape-delayed TV broadcast of qualifying (including go-or-go-home pole sitter Michael Waltrip) I feel inclined to explain to the production truck how this restrictor plate impound qualifying session will work so it doesn't happen again.

I'm not where I can watch TV & can't pick up MRN qualifying, but FOX Trac is showing Kyle Petty outqualified Bill Elliott by almost 1 tenth to get the 43rd spot.

Richard, 3 words: past champion's provisional

Yet another example of why I've been pushing NASCAR to dump this rule. The #21 car should be going home right now, not the #45 car. It's a joke to think that had Bill Elliott scored 24 less points in the 1988 season that the starting lineups for many 2007 races and the 2008 races at California and now Phoenix would have been drastically different.

What was the deal with the tracker? It would show a driver at a minus time while displaying him in 10th place at that moment. The time ticker was lagging behind the postion ticker by quite a few seconds. Speed/Fox has to fix their technology on this and their always outdated scoring scrolls during races....unreal. I think they have it down better during the truck races though.